All-Timers

For some reason, I don't talk a lot of baseball in The Sports Sauna. At least, I don't talk baseball except to release my latest brain fart on PED's. (I'm using PED's as an acronym for Performance Enhancing Drugs. "Stuff" never really caught on.) But tonight is the All-Star Game, and nothing makes me feel like I'm ten years old like racing to the TV in time to see all the All-Star's announced. So let's talk baseball.

Last night I watched the Home Run derby with my dad and my brother. To add to the enjoyment, we had a small wager on the derby and each picked two guys. My dad had first pick. Now heading into the thing, if you had first pick, who would you take? Be honest... Everyone liked Prince, which was a decent pick, but I was thinking defending champ Howard or Pujols. I don't like the first timers, even though Howard won it last year. They tend to be too jumpy. My dad takes Vlady! Then my brother took Prince and I wound up with my top two choices. Of course, you know what happened. I didn't see that coming, but I shouldn't have underestimated Vlady. He's an All-Timer.

I started thinking about how cool it was to watch Pujols and Vlady knock balls to kingdom come. Pujols, when it's all said and done, might be the best hitter of my lifetime. And Vlady is unlike anyone who has ever played the game. They're both special. They're All-Timers.

So let's sort out the All-Star rosters into tiers, with minimal comments. That way, when Griffey steps to the plate tonight for perhaps the last time in an All-Star game, we'll all appreciate it a little more, as we should.

All-Timers
Derek Jeter
Alex Rodriguez
Vlad Guerrero
Manny Ramirez
Ichiro Suzuki
Albert Pujols
Barry Bonds
Ken Griffey Jr.

Hall of Famers
Ivan Rodriguez
Trevor Hoffman
John Smoltz
(or en route)
Chase Utley
Roy Oswalt
Billy Wagner
Johan Santana

Remember Him? He was so...
David Ortiz (clutch)
Torii Hunter (amazing in CF)
Magglio Ordonez (good before he got hurt)
K-Rod (nasty)
Alfonso Soriano (talented)
Brandon Webb (sinkerballin')

Young and Rising (born in the 80s)
Tier 1
Carl Crawford
Grady Sizemore
Justin Morneau
Jose Reyes
Miguel Cabrera
David Wright

Tier 2
Alex Rios
Josh Beckett
Dan Haren
Jon Paplebon
CC Sabathia
Justin Verlander
Russ Martin
Brian McCann
Prince Fielder
Matt Holliday
Cole Hamels
Jake Peavy
Chris Young

If he was on your team, you'd love him
Jorge Posada
Michael Young
Victor Martinez
Carlos Beltran

Solid
Brian Roberts
John Lackey
Derrick Lee
Carlos Lee
Brad Penny
Ben Sheets
JJ Putz

He made the All-Star team??
Placido Polanco
Carlos Guillen
Mike Lowell
Bobby Jenks
Gil Meche
Hideki Okajima
Dmitri Young
Orlando Hudson
JJ Hardy
Freddy Sanchez
Aaron Rowand
Francisco Cordero
Brian Fuentes
Takashi Saito
Jose Valverde